Healthy Communities

Mental Health Care in Marin County Jail

It’s a cold-hard fact: There are nearly five times as many mentally ill people in jails and prisons than there are in mental hospitals. More offenders sentenced to local jails instead of state prisons has placed harsh responsibilities on county governments. Yet Marin County is committed to improving inmate mental health services.

In 2017, the Board of Supervisors approved a crisis specialist to work evening hours and a full-time crisis unit supervisor in the jail. This will lead to programmatic changes, better documentation of inmate cases, and stronger teamwork between custody staff and medical staff.

Those inmates who may be treatment-resistant or mentally ill (whom are charged with misdemeanor offenses and have been found to be incompetent to stand trial) will have access to a restorative program to help them gain competence to stand trial.

Statistics

Public Health

Average life expectancy: 84
Adult obesity rate: 15.6%
Number of cases of acute communicable diseases monitored: 3,098
% of Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC) infants are breastfed at age one: 51%
Number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries: 40,818
Number of new Medi-Cal applications received: 9,567

Health and Human Services

Number of influenza vaccinations distributed 1,905
Number of mental health client contacts by new crisis outreach team: 504 contacts (49 clients)
Number of clients assessed at Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU): 1581
Number of client contacts by Outreach and Engagement Transition and Mobile Crisis Teams: 1287
$ devoted to homelessness services: $12,850,000
Number of people who completed drug and alcohol detoxification: 786
Number of people who completed drug and alcohol detoxification and had positive treatment outcomes: 618
Number of families that received food from CalFresh: 5,942
Number of children served by Child Welfare Services: 182
Number of adults that received adult protection services: 810
Number of adoptive parents served in Adoption Assistant Program Families: 164

Highlights from 2016-17

The County’s track record of being one of the healthiest counties in California remained intact (No. 2 among 58).
The County’s aging services network expanded, including improving approaches to mental health, care coordination and dementia.
The County continued to encourage human-powered transportation through pathway widenings, bike lane additions, and sidewalk gap closures.
Marin is one of the first counties in the state to adopt a Racial Equity Action Plan, which seeks to ensure just and fair inclusion in our community.
Naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, was made available to public safety agencIes by RxSafe Marin, a coalition that includes several County departments.